Finally dove into the DVC World, where to start....

[dspud]

Deb & Bill's advice of buying where you wouldn't mind staying is perfect for your situation.

Thats our "problem." I asked my wife last night if she thinks we would every become Disney resort "snobs" (don't take it as an insult, its meant to be funny). We just like trying out new places. SSR looked a little dull in comparison vs. some of the other resorts like Poly and AKV. But we only saw it while on the DVC tour.

 

[dspud]

They are all incredibly nice. I honestly don't think we would get to a point where we would mind staying anywhere, but I understand picking up points at a resort that is harder to book at 7 months out if you can get them cheap. Looking at buying around 200 at 70-90 per point. Would like 39-40 years out of them. That puts my youngest at well into her middle of her life. I'm good with that.

 

[msjprincess]

Thats our "problem." I asked my wife last night if she thinks we would every become Disney resort "snobs" (don't take it as an insult, its meant to be funny). We just like trying out new places. SSR looked a little dull in comparison vs. some of the other resorts like Poly and AKV. But we only saw it while on the DVC tour.

If you like AKV an AKV resale would probably be a good choice.

 

[dspud]

If you like AKV an AKV resale would probably be a good choice.

We have never stayed at any of them, but we are leaning on AKV just from what we are reading. The ONLY downside I see is lack of transportation options. That being said, we most likely will drive to WDW when we vacation there (5 RT airline tickets is much more expensive than a day driving each way) so we could use our own vehicle to get to the different parks. But the access to monorail was what sold us on poly to begin with (we just got back from WDW and stayed at the poly with no personal car (we flew this time with free airline miles we won't normally have) and using bus transportation from the POP Century, its fresh in our minds how bad it was to get around).

 

[lawboy2001]

Congratulations, and Welcome home! I'm sure you will be happy with your purchase.

Contrary to all the commentary, if you are interested in a new resort, with 50 years left on the contract, there has in fact been very little financial benefit, recently, to buying resale vs direct from Disney.

Resale contracts only become reasonably available 4-5 years after a resort is built, and when you compare the price of these contracts, there is very little difference between the price Disney was charging when they first began selling the resort. For example Bay Lake Tower...it was sold for approximately 95-100$ by Disney in 2009-2010 and now resale prices are approximately 120$. I bought my contract (resale) in 2013 for 98$. And while that was much cheaper than direct prices at that time, had I bought direct from Disney in 2009-2010, I would have been no worse off, in fact, I would have been better for having had the three years of use of my membership!!

I would have no hesitation buying PVB direct if I wanted more points.

 

[mickeyman]

I just purchased a 160 point AKV contract for $75 per point. Plenty of good deals on AKV

 

[sndral]

We have never stayed at any of them, but we are leaning on AKV just from what we are reading. The ONLY downside I see is lack of transportation options. That being said, we most likely will drive to WDW when we vacation there (5 RT airline tickets is much more expensive than a day driving each way) so we could use our own vehicle to get to the different parks. But the access to monorail was what sold us on poly to begin with (we just got back from WDW and stayed at the poly with no personal car (we flew this time with free airline miles we won't normally have) and using bus transportation from the POP Century, its fresh in our minds how bad it was to get around).

We fly and relying on Disney transportation is sometimes a hassle. But that is true for all resorts. When I've stayed at YC (pre DVC days) getting to and from MK/AK was a hassle and leaving from DHS at night waiting in the long boat line was a hassle. Even when I've stayed at the GF (also pre DVC days) getting to DHS and AK was a hassle and getting to and from Epcot or MK when the monorail was down wasn't easy either.
For our upcoming 2015 trip I did use my AKV points to secure 5 nights at Jambo @ 11 months and then an additional 3 nights at BWV and 3 nights at VGF - and this is for early December, a really hard time to grab DVC villas at 7 months. I pieced it together via wait listing and stalking the availability tool on the member site.
My approach was I knew I wanted around 300 points, but I suspected that I wanted 2 resorts for flexibility so I bought half to start (160 @ AKV.) Plus I figured if I didn't like the DVC system I'd be cutting my losses if I decided to sell. It's worked out for me so far and I'm now ready to buy my second half - and it'll probably be BWV or VGF (I'm leaning towards VGF.)
Meanwhile through using banked points and borrowing I'll have stretched my 160 AKV points and won't run out until after my 2016 December trip - which will be my 3rd DVC trip of 10-11 nights in mostly 1 br.s.

 

[njmeisje]

Congratulations and welcome to DVC. My advice is -- Buy where you want to stay. Before DVC, our young family stayed at the Poly. We Loved the Poly. If Poly DVC was available back in 2007 when I first bought, I would have bought there. BUT -- with a young growing family, we bought BCV, and quickly grew from 1BR to 2 BR as our girls became teens. I think you may find the Studios at Poly to be a problem. Besides the obvious smaller room, the studios don't offer a washer/dryer -- which was just a must for us.

Anyway -- I completely get the "stroller resort" appeal.

We quickly bought HHI after BCV and stayed with that combo for many years. Our family has been able to stay in many resorts, even VCG and Aulani with our points. So - I'm sure you will enjoy your points. Buy where you want to stay, esp on WDW property. I've always loved BCV, and never regretted that choice, because it offered all room sizes, access to Epcot and the BEST pool on WDW property. Make sure you LOVE Poly in that same way, and you will love it for years to come. If not - rescind and Buy where you will want to stay.

All the best to you and your family!
Diane

 

[michelleiada]

My advice is always buy where you want to stay and resale is the way to go in my opinion! AKV is a beautiful resort. I hope to add on there eventually myself.

 

[ToddyLu]

I love reading threads like this. DH and I do not have children so we only bought with ourselves in mind. Strollers will only last so long. The kids will grow up and you will need the extra space. Luckily, DH and I have only stayed studios but I fear if we ever get a 1 bedroom the studio days will instantly disappear. I am sure you have read the thread on picking a home resort. You have no idea how much owning DVC will change your vacation habits. When the kids are a bit older and can stay with family will you and wife want to hop to Disney for a long weekend at F&W. What you learn is now that you have the room, maybe you do not need a park. Maybe in 10 years you are happy in a great resort with landscaping, a pool bar and lovely restaurant.

FP+ makes it very convienent to hop into a park, do the rides, maybe a meal and get back "home" for a swim and maybe the movie by the pool that night. You purchased the timeshare and you will need to use it. While other places are fun to vacation, I imagine DVC pulls a lot of us back for the comfort and " home" feel it provides. Alone without parks the resorts are great.

DVC changes your Disney vacation like a corvette changes your drive to work.

 

[dizfan]

Thats our "problem." I asked my wife last night if she thinks we would every become Disney resort "snobs" (don't take it as an insult, its meant to be funny). We just like trying out new places. SSR looked a little dull in comparison vs. some of the other resorts like Poly and AKV. But we only saw it while on the DVC tour.

One thing we found, is that visiting resorts is much different than staying there. Staying at a resort is much different than visiting. At least in my opinion.
All resorts have positives and negatives. Each person has different tastes. Good luck with your decision.

 

[DVC Mike]

If you need some more information on DVC, I'd recommend the DVC Information Center.



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[dspud]

Well to those wondering what we ended up doing, we agreed on a 220 pt. purchase at AKV with a Aug UY and all 2015 points still available (no 2014 points banked and nothing borrowed). Went back and forth with a couple different contracts this one seems to be the best fit (and what I thought was a good price for so many points currently available!). Thanks for the advice, now, to sit and wait for the process to move so we can start planning our NEXT trip!

 

[zavandor]

Congratulations!
Due to the higher MF, SSR is cheaper to visit all resorts over time, but AKV has the value option to save points and can balance things out a bit.
And it is a unique resort with the animals and some of the best options for dining: everything from the quick service to the signature is delicious.

 

[dspud]

Thats what we figured. for the price we couldn't beat it, actually have more points than we need (but I am sure we will be happy to use anyway). Already have the next 3-4 resorts picked out. Going to be hard to choose where to stay first, but Because of strollers, probably do the Poly first. Kids loved that place.

 

[FoodieFriend]

I have never been a person that starts repeating the same resort over and over again. Even if I like a place I'll generally stay somewhere different next time just to check it out. So I am leaning toward buying 200 SSR points resale and calling it a day. That should be enough (with borrowing/banking) to give me a enough for Aluani 2 bedroom villa over christmas if I wanted to take some extended family (a vacation we have discussed for quite a while) as well as get us almost almost anything available for the 5 of us at WDW during the summer months or over school breaks) the money saved could pay for at least one international vacation that I have been waiting to do for several years now (the last 5 years our house has been a baby factory so my vacation funds have just been piling up). We love the Poly don't get me wrong, but I think its a deal breaker, Worst case scenario we would have to Book SSR, but I honestly don't think thats that bad either. The points there are good until I am 72, my youngest will be 39. I think that covers my bases pretty well. Keep the comments rolling. I love the different perspectives on this. As much as I read before the purchase, its hard for me to think about it in real dollars until the real dollars on the table, now I'm starting to realize what I can do with those extra funds.

fyi, for the Aulani stay, because it's a DVC property, many have purchased Aulani as their home. i live in Hawaii & have looked at getting any room there during Christmas time & it's been booked solid at the 7 month window. i purchased with BLT as my home because the maintenance fees were half of Aulani's & since i live nearby, i have a lot of flexibility to get rooms when i need before any points expire. I know that summer & Christmas are their peak seasons but i've had more luck booking a 2 bedroom in summer or spring break than during Christmas. maybe that's just my personal experience last holiday season. we were on the waiting list for a 2 bedroom & never got anything. the prior year, i had only inquired but didn't put myself on the waitlist. just offering my point of view that if you plan to use points for Aulani, you might have to be flexible.

 

[dspud]

fyi, for the Aulani stay, because it's a DVC property, many have purchased Aulani as their home. i live in Hawaii & have looked at getting any room there during Christmas time & it's been booked solid at the 7 month window. i purchased with BLT as my home because the maintenance fees were half of Aulani's & since i live nearby, i have a lot of flexibility to get rooms when i need before any points expire. I know that summer & Christmas are their peak seasons but i've had more luck booking a 2 bedroom in summer or spring break than during Christmas. maybe that's just my personal experience last holiday season. we were on the waiting list for a 2 bedroom & never got anything. the prior year, i had only inquired but didn't put myself on the waitlist. just offering my point of view that if you plan to use points for Aulani, you might have to be flexible.

And thats fine. We honestly just came up with that because I was playing with the booking calendar a few days ago and it showed that was open for the week after christmas 2015. I probably just got lucky but it showed available! Thanks for letting me know that. I was under the assumption Aulani wasn't that hard to get at 7mo.

 

[ziravan]

Well to those wondering what we ended up doing, we agreed on a 220 pt. purchase at AKV with a Aug UY and all 2015 points still available (no 2014 points banked and nothing borrowed). Went back and forth with a couple different contracts this one seems to be the best fit (and what I thought was a good price for so many points currently available!). Thanks for the advice, now, to sit and wait for the process to move so we can start planning our NEXT trip!

Congratulations!

Be advised that the wait for ROFR and then closing and then membership number takes forever.

I think resale is worth it, but the wait was excruciating.

 

[sndral]

Thats what we figured. for the price we couldn't beat it, actually have more points than we need (but I am sure we will be happy to use anyway). Already have the next 3-4 resorts picked out. Going to be hard to choose where to stay first, but Because of strollers, probably do the Poly first. Kids loved that place.

Congratulations and good luck. Once you try out a 1 br. w/ the extra space and in villa washer/dryer w/ your 3 young children, I suspect you'll find a way to use those 'extra' points.